Are foods labeled "solid beverages" suitable for infants and toddlers?

Recently, the multi-brand "nutritional powder" solid beverages sold in mother and baby stores were officially reported as substandard in quality, and some merchants confused the concept when promoting the products and were suspected of misleading consumers with advertisements

Due to the sensitivity and particularity of infants and young children's own constitution, it is best to use breast milk in the early stage.

Some parents substitute milk protein-containing solid beverages for milk powder, which may directly affect the physical development and intellectual development of children, and also affect the immune function to varying degrees, resulting in low immune function

Babies grow and develop rapidly, so an adequate nutritional supply is very important

In the past two years, there have been incidents of some solid beverage products posing as milk powder for special medical purposes.

In recent years, the state's supervision and regulation of solid beverages has become more and more strict

Solid beverages are just ordinary food, not the main food for infants and infants with special constitutions, and their product formulas, production processes, labels and instructions do not require additional registration and approval

Some businesses claim that their "solid beverage" products are "rich in protein" and "rich in vitamins"

In addition, there are also propaganda points such as adding micronutrients to "solid beverages" to attract parents to buy micronutrients for infants and young children

In fact, babies do not need to blindly supplement nutrition.

In June this year, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued the "Announcement of the State Administration for Market Regulation on Strengthening the Quality and Safety Supervision of Solid Beverages (Draft for Comment)", which proposed further requirements for the name and packaging of solid beverage products

In addition, the draft for comments shows: solid beverage labels, instructions and publicity materials shall not use words or patterns to express, imply or emphasize that the products are suitable for specific groups such as minors, the elderly, patients, those with nutritional risk or malnutrition, and shall not use the production Processes, names of raw materials, etc.

　　(He Xiao)

"China Food News" (December 03, 2021 Edition 06)

(Editor-in-charge: Wang Ning)